I was a high schooler when myspace came into existence. This was an
important time for a new ingredient to be added into my milieu. Like
many teens, I struggled with the rules that existed in a very lord
of the flies time of life. There is much commentary on social media
today, and even scientific studies about the effect on one’s brain
to have so many relationships in this digital reality. However, at
the time, myspace seemed to be owned by other teen’s like myself,
and we were deciding what role it would play in our complex social
structures. For me, it was pretty simple, I would hop on a plane
multiple times a year, and head to Salisbury, CT from Bozeman, MT to
attend high school. My primary circle of friends was in Montana, and
myspace served as a lifeline to still be part of what was happening
where other people could see my activity. They could see my pictures
and who I spent time with. This was one of the most important
aspects of high school social rules. Rather than thinking about who
you like and what interests you have, relationships were often about
how spending time with that person or group of people made you seem
to those in the social class just above you. Of course, there were
many blessed outliers who shirked this pallid construct.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself having some huge questions
around technology and particularly about social media. I resonate with
the Ecclesiastical proverb that there is nothing new under the sun.
There have always been new innovations that impact the world in
significant ways, and we move towards them with apprehension, not
really sure how they will impact our lives. We try to create good
guardrails around things that are seen as dangerous. I’ve grown to
think that the internet and aspects of technology are extremely
dangerous and we have done very little to protect people from it.

Anecdotally, I have seen my own addiction to my phone have a negative
impact in my life. It creates less drive to go build relationships and
be with other people (which as an introvert, I need things that build
my desire to be with others). It fills a need the way that a candy bar
satisfies hunger. It kind of deals with the hunger, but it leaves your
teeth and gut rotting. These things can be difficult to see, but I
started to wake up to this reality after killing my facebook account
during college, back in 2009. It was in removing my facebook account
that I became painfully aware of my addiction to control how others
perceive me. This will drive you mad or at least create an angry
gorilla in your chest that is difficult to calm down, and you will
unknowingly curate your pictures and posts to create a certain
persona. I already struggled with creating a persona to my personal
detriment. I created tales and lies about who I was to control how I
was perceived by others, and social media just super-charged this
power of mine. However, what I was really longing for and what I’ve
found to quench this rumbling inside of me is being known. It’s not in
controlling the perspective of others, but in sharing my true self, my
struggles, what questions I am asking about reality — it is in sharing
these things that I find my hunger satiated. In posting to social
media, I had not been writing to share something interesting or
valuable out of life discovery, but I was saying something so people
would perceive me in a specific way. The problem with this is that it
kills growth. You spend your wad on curating a persona, and your
energy to actually go out into the world, to grow, and to try new
things that are scary evaporates. I was left feeling violated, and not
really knowing why.

For the record, think about the financial model that drives social
media forward. Spend the most time in the app, and they make the most
money. This seems to be a case where the open market has incentivized
a use of technology that is inherently anti-human.

Let’s say that you resonate with this, and agree, what the fuck do you
do about it? The devices we carry are a big part of the problem. I’ve
spent the last 10 years both pondering this question and using myself
as a case study. This is something I will continue to do, but having a
strategy for my devices has been key, and its ironic that new
categories of devices has actually helped me find a balance that seems
to be moving in the right direction. This strategy has utilized a
mixture of controlling notifications (what can get to me without my
consent) and using devices in a very specific way. For those curious,
here is my current strategy with some notes about when to buy new
devices:

Phone: used for hotspot/camera/phone/text/email and
not much else. This device can be old and not the latest and greatest.
Reason for upgrading: significantly better camera.

Watch: used as primary device. Should be able to play
podcasts, audiobooks, music, receive calls/texts, order an uber and
navigation. Reason for upgrading: significantly
better battery life (get through 2 days) or untethered from phone. The
phone is no longer necessary once the watch is standalone. The only
thing required to replace the phone is a solid camera that uploads
pictures to cloud photos account.

Tablet: this device is for consuming media (i.e.
Netflix, Hulu, etc..), processing ideas (i.e. notes, etc..), and light
development work (ssh to Linux). Reason for upgrading:
most likely just every other release cycle - don’t need latest and
greatest but do need solid performance for dev work. The tablet should
have personal accounts on it as well as work communication without
notifications.

Laptop: this is used primarily as a
developer computer. It should not have personal accounts on it and
should just be used for work.

My goal is to over time depend 100% on an SSH dev environment so as to
only need a tablet and watch at some point. I currently have a
fujifilm X-T10, and use a TopoDesign’s hipbag as my daily carry. Since
I don’t carry a phone with me, I bring a notepad, book, and camera to
still get the most out of my daily outings and survive in the modern
world.